


Like A Date

by TintedPink



Category: Avengers (Movies), Doctor Strange (movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel
Genre: First Date, Fluff, Get Together, riding off into the sunset
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 07:22:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17219483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TintedPink/pseuds/TintedPink
Summary: Tony Stark and Stephen Strange go on their first date. It ends well.





	Like A Date

3

  
Tony makes a point of visiting both Kamar Taj and the New York Sanctum whenever he feels like Stephen Strange has gone too long without making contact. It’s half a power play, proving that he has access to Stephen whenever he wants it, and half an incessant curiosity about Stephen’s magic, which Tony hated.

Curiosity was probably the wrong word, unless Tony added morbid to the beginning, then maybe it worked. No matter. Whatever his purpose Tony saw Stephen regularly, treated him to dinner now and again when he seemed particularly irritated, and just generally made a nuisance of himself in the way that some people hated and others found annoyingly charming. Tony was betting Stephen would fall into the latter category sooner rather than later. Most people eventually warmed up to Tony, even if it was kind of grudging.

Stephen was a tough case though. Aside from that time when he sacrificed half the universe to save Tony’s life (Stephen said it didn’t count since they fixed it in the end, but Tony disagreed), Stephen didn’t really show any sign of being affectionate or caring at all about Tony. He refused to smile, even when Tony pulled out his best lines (not the playboy ones, the genius ones). The sentient outerwear was mostly on board with Tony, but it was too loyal to Stephen to give him more than a passing… glance? It doesn’t have eyes ears or any visible pressure or temperature receptors, but it definately managed to interact with the outside world and react to stimuli. Stephen said it was magic. Tony didn’t like that explanation.

But we digress. Tony was having a hard time breaking Stephen’s outer shell. Most people were peanuts, with enough pressure the shell comes off right in your hand, but Stephen was more like a walnut. Tony would need a tiny hammer and a weird pick thing to get on Stephen’s good side. Bad metaphor. Maybe he shouldn’t compare breaking nuts to making friends. Friends? Well sure, why not. Tony was trying to make a friend of a wizard in charge of the magical security of New York. As a superhero in charge of the physical security of New York it seemed like a good strategy. Getting along outside of work would make working together easier. That was why Tony was bringing Stephen food from his favorite Italian place, not for any other ulterior non-platonic reason. He also had enough for Wong, should he be floating around doing whatever wizards do in their free time, or not free time. It was hard to tell which was which with them.

He knocks, but only as a courtesy. He came right in when he received no answer after two seconds and really, the place should have better security than that. Tony would talk to Stephen about installing a security system. You know, like friends do.

Tony drops the extra container in the kitchen, knowing that Wong will find his way to it and maybe even join them if he wanted to, though that seems to happen less and less frequently lately. Tony should ask about that. Friends ask about that sort of thing. Tony is going to be an excellent friend.

“Howdy neighbor!” Tony says as he enters Stephen’s study, holding out the food bag to butter Stephen up for his unannounced entrance. Stephen ignores Tony until he gets to the end of his page and then puts aside the book he’s reading to look at Tony.

“If the world isn’t in crisis why on earth are you hear?”

“What? Can’t a man drop in on his favorite wizard?”

“Sorcerer,” Stephen glares, having corrected Tony enough times in the past that he shouldn’t have to keep repeating himself, but Tony is stubborn and he likes that look of near anger plus exasperation bordering on amusement.

“Sure, but I brought food, so you can’t be mad.” Tony plops down in a chair he _isn’t_ starting to think of as “his chair” and opens the take out bag, letting the smells really waft towards Stephen so he’ll stop being hornery.

“You can’t buy people’s affection, Tony,” Stephen says even as he reaches out for the bag to grab his syrafoam container and a foil wrapped piece of garlic bread.

“I beg to differ. I’ve done it very sucessfully nearly my entire life.”

“Nearly?”

“When I didn’t have access to the family bank account it was a little bit harder.” He grabs the remaining container from the bag and settles in his chair, opening it up and tossing plasticware Stephen’s direction from the bottom of the bag. “But not impossible.”

“I’m not going to ask.” Stephen opens his container and pretends not to impressed by the very nice food from a very nice restuarant that doesn’t usually do take out.

“Probably better that you don’t.” Tony unwraps the remaining plasticware and tucks the napkin into the collar of his shirt, tossing his tie behind him to keep it out of his marinera. “So, any world ending catastrophes coming up that I should know about?”

“You’re wonderful at dinner conversation.” Stephen says as he tucked in to his own food, making use of a nearly empty table resting next to his chair that had been besides Tony’s the last time that he’d been there. Tony knew that it was probably Stephen being petty, so he pretended not to be bothered by it so that he wouldn’t get any satisfaction from it.

“You want to pull up a chair. There’s plenty of room here.”

Or that. Tony blinks and then stands up before his mouth even has time to answer. Unfortunately when that answer finally comes it’s something as stupid as, “Sure, why not? I always like getting up close and personal with you, Strange.” Tony adds a wink because it feels appropriate, but he’s actually more unsure about it than he was about… well anything. He was very rarely unsure.

Stephen snorted and rolled his eyes, but it was kind of fond underneath all the annoyance, so that was good.

Tony dragged his chair behind him, earning an unimpressed look from Stephen, but he ignored it. He sat down like it was the most natural thing on earth and started eating. “I got something new, let me know what you think.”

Stephen hums in response and Tony mixes up his pasta dish and digs in, they ate in silence, which was unusual for Tony but he was learning to live with it because Stephen preferred it.

“This is really good.” Stephen has never ever made a comment about the food that Tony brought that Tony didn’t have to drag out of him. It catches Tony a little off guard, and he looks up at Stephen curiously.

“Is it? It’s the same restuarant from a couple weeks ago, but I got something different. Glad you approve.”

“This is one of your favorites.” Stephen unwraps the garlic bread and doesn’t look at Tony. “Everything else is one and done, but you’ve brought food from this place four times.” He picks up the open foil and shows the contents to Tony, “I recognize the bread.”

“It’s my absolute favorite, as it happens,” Tony doesn’t know how to feel about that. Sure, Stephen has an idetic memory, and he probably didn’t put any thought into knowing about the bread, but he’d commented on it. “If that’s a complaint I can go somewhere else. Plenty of Italian places in New York.”

“It’s not a complaint. Just an observation.” Stephen manages to make eating pasta look elegant and it’s kind of annoying, but mostly it’s cute. Tony knows he shouldn’t think of a bad ass sorcerer as cute, but he did plenty of things that he shouldn’t so why stop now.

“Oh.” Tony feels stupid just saying it, but he’s caught off guard. “Just an observation.” Was it a brush off or like really bad flirting? He had no idea. He knew which one he hoped for, and which one it probably was, but he wasn’t sure. It cut at him not to be sure about something, but even though Stephen had been doing this to him since they met, he was worth the agrevation.

“I can see why you like it. Everything’s been great so far.”

“They do a really great lasagna if that’s something you’d be interested in. I can bring it next time.”

Stephen sets down his fork, looking at Tony for maybe the first time. “If there’s going to be a next time, why don’t you let me treat you?”

“Because I’m a genius billionaire and I could buy the rest of your meals for the rest of your life with the money I make in a year. From five star restuarants.” Tony says it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world and is surprised by the small smirk forming on Stephen’s lips. The man has never cracked a smile at one of Tony’s amazing witty jokes, but he can smirk about Tony’s very obvious fact.

“You’ve been bringing me food for months. The least I can do is take you out for dinner.”

“Out for dinner,” Tony repeats, because he can’t be hearing what he thinks he’s hearing, because what he thinks he’s hearing is.

“Like a date,” Stephen is looking at him with too intense eyes, and okay, maybe Tony is a sucker for Stephen’s eyes, but can anyone blame him?

“We barely talk.”

“I’d like to change that.”

Tony takes a second to process that, and then nods. “Okay, you have my number.”

“I’ll text you.”

—————————

S: _Are you free Friday night?_

Tony is surprised when FRIDAY reads the text to him. The last time he talked to Stephen was nearly three days ago, and he was starting to think that he was having second thoughts. He said so.

T: _I was starting to think that you were having second thoughts._

It takes a couple of minutes to get the text back.

S: _Just rearranging some things. So is that a yes or no?_

T: _I’ll make it work._

S: _I’m picking the place. I’ll text you the address._

T: _I’ll show up in the suit._

S: With a regular suit underneath, preferably.

T: _Oh of course. I’m sexiest in a suit._

S: _Nice to see you’re pulling out all the stops._

T: _I’ve seen old pictures of you in suits. I’m sure you’re going to clean up nicely._

S: _Of course I am._

T: _Confidence is the new sexy._

S: _A well cut suit doesn’t hurt._

T: _No it does not._

S: _My treat._

T: _I didn’t forget. But I’m getting the tip._

S: _I can live with that._

T: _Why did I expect you to fight me on that?_

S: _Because I almost did, but then I remembered that it would be pointless and you’d just send a tip once we were gone._

T: _Point_

S: _Seven o’clock?_

T: _I will be there barring world crisis._

S: _Understandable_

T: _See you then._

S: _See you, Tony._

And that made Tony’s heart skip a beat like it hadn’t since he was still carrying around too much metal too close to it.

—————

Tony shows up at seven o’clock sharp, throwing his tendency to be fashionably late to the wind. He tells the hostest that he’s with the Strange party, and she smiles, showing him the way immediately without making the very obvious joke about “what makes it so strange” or something to that effect which is kind of dissapointing, but he understands that it probably isn’t the time for that kind of thing.

Stephen stands up when Tony approaches, and wow does he clean up nice. A powder blue shirt that should look ridiculous beneath the deep blue suit looks amazing with a slate blue tie and white pocket square. It’s a classic cut and though it’s technically out of season, it looks amazing on him. Stephen waits for Tony to get to the table to speak.

“I’m glad you could make it.”

“Thank the supervillians for not trying to end the world tonight.” Tony smiles and sits down, waving the waiter away when he asks if Tony wants wine, just tipping his water glass to have him fill it, “water is fine for me.”

“I hope you’re not skimping on my account.” Stephen smiles when the waiter leaves, having filled both their glasses.

“I don’t really drink anymore. There was an incident. Unless you intend to kill me I’ll pass.” He flashes a grin that is supposed to ease any tension that may form after such a revelation. Tony never made a secret of his mistakes or his vices. He figured it was always better to put stuff out there himself than let the press out him.

“Oh.” Stephen looks at his taster of red, “Would you prefer I didn’t-“

“No, no, it’s doesn’t bother me.” Tony waves away the very suggesion and takes a drink of water to wet his palate. Usually admitting to a previous drinking problem that boardered on alcoholism didn’t feel this… vulnerable. Maybe it should have.

Stephen nods, but he doesn’t ask for more than a full glass of the wine he’s already tasted.

Tony talks to Stephen more than he’s ever talked to anyone who isn’t Rhodey. And he’s talking too him. Not at him. Not around him. To him. They’re having a conversation. Several conversation. Stephen has a dry wit to die for and a cutting tongue to rival the Asguardian who shall not be named. He makes Tony laugh and he makes Tony think and he’s amazing. He can only hope that Stephen feels similarly.

When the waiter asks them if they want desert Tony says no and winks at Stephen. “I know a place.”

Stephen rolls his eyes but asks for the tab anyway.

They end up at a milkshake bar, and Stephen is visibly unimpressed. Tony laughs and drags him in by the suit sleeve.

“We’re only here because you think that it’s cute to be rich and eat here, aren’t you?”

“And they have the best milkshakes in New York. With non-milk options if that’s not your thing, so you can’t protest.”

“Non-milk?” Stephen asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, we have almond, soy and sherbert options!” The cheery girl behind the counter tells them. “Though the sherbert shakes are just kind of melty. Some peopel are into that though! I’d recommend the chocolate almond milk if that’s a route you want to go. THe vegan toppings have a gree spoon in them.”

“Milkshakes with toppings?” Stephen turns to Tony, who is grinning.

“Yes. I told you this place was the best. I’m going to have whatever you just suggested with whatever your favorite toppings are.”

“All of them!” She grins and Tony nods.

“All of them then. Stephen?”

Stephen looks at the menu and then points out the special of the day. “I think I’ll do the chocolate carmel pecan shake.”

“Traditional, almond or soy milk?””

“Almond,” Stephen said, looking at Tony. Tony smiles because they’re obviously getting basically the same thing and that’s gonna be a good sign.

Stephen rolls his eyes, and Tony just winks at the server and mouths, “my date’s going well.”

She grins at him, barely hiding a giggle as she starts to make their shakes.

When Tony pays Stephen doesn’t protest, which is good because it would have ruined their very nice date. Stephen gets cinamon and chocolate chips in his shake, and Tony has an unfortunate medley of gummies, chocolates, fruit and miscelaneous candies that leaves him just a tiny bit less fond of the enthusiastic barista. 

“That’s some shake.” Stephen comments as they walk the streets like teenagers. Stephen is using maybe too much magic to stablize his hands, to keep them from shaking and spilling carmel all over himself. He did the same thing at dinner and nearly every time he eats, he has to, but if Tony ever noticed the difference he hasn’t said anything.

“Where’s your sense of adventure, Stephen?” Tony asked, just before he tried to suck up a sour gummy work in his straw. It didn’t work out well. Stephen’s laugh was worth it.

“I think I left it in that milkshake bar with your dignity. You could have told her not to put literally all the toppings in it.”

“She was so excited.”

“She needs some dissapointment in her life. She was too cheerful.”

“You’re going to regret saying that when she runs the world one day.”

Stephen raises an eyebrow, “You have that much faith in her?”

“I have faith in everyone. And the youth are the future. As a futurist I would know.”

They continue in silence as Tony battles with the gummy worm stuck in his straw, and every once in a while Stephen chuckles about it, and it’s comfortable. Tony hasn’t felt this at ease with paparazzi following him in years. Not even when Stark Industries was buying up paparazzi photos for ten times the amount that gossip rags would pay them for. That hadn’t lasted long, but it had kept most of his sexual expermentation in college out of the papers long enough for Tony to get his shit together. 

“You’re a good person, Tony Stark.” Stephen stirs his milkshake with his straw and Tony cocks his head at him.

“I’m sorry, for a second I thought you said you thought I was a good person.”

“I didn’t say I thought it. I said You are a good person.”

Tony doesn’t really know what to say to that, so he returns the compliment. “So are you. Even if your taste in dates is a little bit questionable at the moment.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you.”

And this is the moment that Tony had been dreading. Self doubt and anxiety dragging him down and shoving his confidence in a box and throwing that box in the ocean.

“Maybe nothing that you can see right now.”

Stephen looks at Tony and then holds out his hand. Tony, not knowing what else to do, takes it. Suddenly Stephen’s hand starts shaking, nearly violently, and Tony panics. He looks into Stephen’s eyes to ask him if he’s okay, but there’s no pain or signs of some kind of episode, it’s just sadness.

“You’re not the only one with invisible issues. I’m willing to deal with them if you are.”

“Are you asking me to go steady?”

“I wouldn’t dream of it. I’m asking you on another date. Next week. You can pick the place.”

Tony smiles, “Only if you buy desert.”

“I think I can manage that.” 

Stephen is very close and Tony isn’t sure who stepped closer to who, but his face is right there and Tony really can’t help himself, so he leans a little closer. “While we’re making demands, can I kiss you?”

Stephen smiles and leans the rest of the way down, and he’s just tall enough that Tony has to tilt his head up, and his free hand rests on Tony’s waist, noticably not shaking. Tony makes a mental note to make sure Stephen knows he doesn’t have to do that if he doesn’t want to, and they kiss until the paparazzi flashes ruin the moment. That’s when Tony’s best car shows up, curtousy of FRIDAY, and Tony waves Stephen into the passenger seat. 

When they’re both in the car Tony looks across at Stephen, revving the engine just to show off. “Where to?”

Stephen rolls his eyes, but doesn’t try that hard to hide his grin. “Is this a your place or mine question?”

“Do you want it to be?”

Stephen laughs and leans over again to kiss Tony, drunk on sugar and happiness.

Tony doesn’t protest.

**Author's Note:**

> Crossposted on [Tumblr](https://iwritefanficsometimes.tumblr.com/post/181537063189/hey-there-i-loved-your-story-and-i-would-love-to)  
> Find more like this at [iwritefansometimes.tumblr.com](https://iwritefanficsometimes.tumblr.com)


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